System and method for integrated customer management

ABSTRACT

An automated system and method for customer management deploys customer databases to profile customer service requests for distribution to appropriately assigned agent representatives. The representatives adopt particular roles according to customer care volume, inquiry type, time of day and other customer management needs. Consumer profiles may be accessed in real time to combine customer care events with cross-selling and other promotions related to the consumer&#39;s transaction history and other factors.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/474,771 filed on Dec. 30, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,965,865 thespecification of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a system and method for comprehensive customermanagement that support customer inquiries, promotions and othercustomer care operations. More specifically, the system and methodprovide a managed workflow and routing process which ensures thatcustomer requests are handled quickly and efficiently, with value-addedoptions and customer preferences.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Existing customer call centers and other customer care facilities enablecustomer service representatives (CSRs) to serve incoming and outgoingconsumer calls for sales, technical support, account inquiry and otherpurposes. Most customer call centers distribute the calls to whicheverrepresentative happens to be available at the time of the call. However,this randomly assigned representative may not be the most appropriatelyskilled agent to address the consumer's request. Thus, if therepresentative must transfer the call, he or she must determine whatskills will best serve the consumer's needs, which other representativepossesses such skills, and which among the suitable representatives areavailable to handle a transfer of the call.

Another disadvantage of telephone-based support centers is that theyrequire the representative to manipulate complex computer screens whileattempting to retrieve information needed to address the consumer'srequest. In order to process the consumer's request, the representativemust record a great deal of information about the call. Thus, in somesystems, it is at the sole discretion of the representative to rememberthe important details of the call and to decide what information aboutthe call is entered into the system, all in real time.

Moreover, during the servicing of a customer inquiry significantopportunities for promotional cross-selling or up-marketing may beignored or lost. For instance, customers inquiring about an airline orhotel charge may be receptive to future hotel promotions or travelincentives, for example linked to branded credit card accounts. However,customer care facilities rarely if ever capitalize on the marketingpotential of such automated, valet-like value added services.

These examples illustrate some of the difficulties and lostopportunities in the operation of present customer care centers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is directed to a system and method for comprehensivecustomer management that support a suite of integrated customermanagement operations. The invention is incorporated in one embodimentin the commercially known as the AT YOUR REQUEST (AYR) System. Theinvention may automate the customer service process from end to end byanalyzing consumer profile information in an effort to reduce perservice member costs, increase card or other member satisfaction andretention, and increase revenues through increased member patronage. Theinvention may be employed in one embodiment to service the customermembership of a bank, merchant, telecommunications or other credit cardvendors.

The invention allows the receipt of customer inquiries using a varietyof communication modes and message formats, and automates the flow ofconsumer requests to ensure that requests are handled quickly andefficiently. The invention in one regard guarantees a 48-hour turnaroundresponse time for e-mail and telephone requests, and a 24-hourturnaround response time for requests received over the Web.

An object of the invention is consequently to provide a management toolto open up additional streams of revenue to generate increased profitsfor the customer service provider, as well as to benefit the customerbase with increased convenience and options.

Another object of the invention is to improve the customer serviceprovider's overall asset base and ability to penetrate existing and newtarget markets.

A further object of the invention is to provide a customer serviceorganization with a uniform system for effectively managing theinformation that a customer call or other care center receives andgenerates.

Another object of the invention is to provide a service provider with abetter method of learning about and understanding the most profitablesegment of its market, which is typically its existing client base.

The invention may utilize at least the following features or componentsalone or together to support these and other objectives:

-   -   A comprehensive customer profile database.    -   A comprehensive research repository.    -   A response generation template and integrated tools (i.e., word        processing and spell checking features).    -   Self-service support options (external AYR).    -   A managed workflow and routing system.    -   Business reporting capabilities.    -   The ability to analyze customer profile information in order to        proactively up-sell, cross-sell, or provide enhanced servicing        to consumers.    -   An ability to identify each consumer's needs, preferences, or        values and use this information to correctly route the        consumer's request to the most appropriately skilled        representative.    -   The ability to enhance consumer relationships with the service        provider and improve inquiry resolution efficiency.    -   The ability to generate increased productivity of the CSR staff        through the implementation of tool such as computer telephony        integration (CTI), a research repository, response generation        tools and administrative tools.    -   The ability to provide cross-platform integration linking a        variety of host based products and transaction processing        systems via an easy to use front-end customer servicing system.        Specific integration includes but is not limited to the        following: computer/telephone integration, e-mail integration,        word processor and spell checker integration, and livelink        integration.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described with respect to the accompanyingdrawings, in which like elements are referenced by like numerals, and inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary diagram of a basic system architectureof a customer care operation according to a first illustrativeembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary diagram of a basic system architectureof a customer care operation according to a second illustrativeembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary flowchart of customer managementprocessing according to the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary flowchart of a quality assurance processaccording to the invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary flowchart of an advisory applicationaccording to the invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary sample listing of types of consumerrequests which the invention may receive and process.

FIGS. 7 a-7 d illustrate an exemplary flowchart of customer managementprocessing according to the invention in another regard.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary flowchart of a quality assurance processaccording to the invention in another regard.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary sample listing of types of consumerrequest which the invention may receive and process, in another regard.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A systems architecture for a customer management facility according to afirst illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 1. Asillustrated in that figure, a customer management system (100) includesa management server (104) which coordinates a group of communicationchannels and customer data resources, for the purpose of advancedcustomer care and marketing. In one regard, the embodiment shown in FIG.1 may advantageously employ or incorporate the commercially availableSiebel™ database software for use in accessing and deploying consumerdata on an site or enterprise-wide level. In the architecture of FIG. 1,consumers seeking technical support, information, follow-up sales,service concerning financial accounts such as cardmember accounts,customer relationship accounts such as registered software users, orother consumer accounts may contact the customer management system (100)through a variety of communication channels.

For instance, customers may dial into the system via the public switchedtelephone network (PSTN) (116) to an automatic call distributor (ACD)(102) or private branch exchange (PBX) (154) for call forwarding,queuing and similar functions known in the art. Intrasite telephonyaccess may be managed by the PBX (154). The consumers wishing to accessthe system (100) may likewise access the system (100) via the Internet(118) using Web-enabled browsers, personal digital assistants or othernetwork-enabled devices. Likewise, consumers may reach the system (100)via fax lines (120) or through mobile cellular telephones, which may beWeb-enabled, connected via a mobile switching center (108), or throughother channels.

Regardless of the channel through which an incoming communication isreceived, in this architecture of the invention the incoming consumerrequest is received and serviced by management server (104), which maybe or include a personal computer running the Windows™ 95, 98 or NT™,Unix, Linux or other operating system or platforms. The managementserver (104) may include an assignment manager module (112) and a workflow manager module (124) which cooperate with electronic memory,storage and other resources to facilitate customer management and care.Management server (104) includes or communicates with customer database(106) which stores a consumer profile table (110). Consumer profiletable (110) records individual customer account information such ascustomer name, credit card number, address information, telephonenumber-information, service history information, account usageinformation and other data fields to assist in customer care andvalue-added promotion related to the organization's set of customeraccounts.

Within the customer management system (100), the incoming inquiries oroutbound service fulfillments are performed by the representativecommunity (114), which may be a group of customer servicerepresentatives or agents deployed at workstations connected tomanagement server (104). In terms of processing of customer initiatedinquiries, if the initiation is via a telephone call over the publicswitched telephone network (116) or via a cellular phone connected overthe mobile switching center (108), an attending representativecategorized as an adviser for the purpose of that contact is logged intothe AT YOUR REQUEST package, in management server (104). The consumerprofile table (110) is then searched for a consumer entry which matchesa telephone number of the caller, detected, for instance, by CallerID,ANI or other identification or authentication techniques.

If the telephone information matches a registered entry within theconsumer profile table (110), summary information for one or morematching profiles is loaded into a profile search screen of therepresentative within the representative community (114) handling thecall. The adviser then selects an appropriate profile, loads the fullprofile into the workstation screen and greets the customercommunicating via the telephone call. During the pendency of thetelephone contact, the representative may edit the customer's profileinformation contained within the consumer profile table (110), and maypersonalize the dialog with the consumer by referring to service historyor other account information. At this or other junctures the adviserhandling the service event may also take an opportunity to promote orsuggest attendant products or services related to the present or pastinquiries by the customer. Thus for instance, credit customers may beasked of their interest in mortgage banking services.

Conversely, if the incoming telephone contact does not reveal a matchbased on telephone or other information within the consumer profiletable (110), the adviser may enter preliminary information into aprofile screen to create a new customer profile entry.

If the initiation of the consumer inquiry is via an e-mail over theInternet (118), a Web page-generated inquiry using HTML or otherformats, or communications over the fax line (120), an adviser withinthe representative community (114) logs into the management server (104)to pull the next e-mail or other communication from an inquiry queue(126). The adviser may view the information contained within the inquiryin the inquiry queue (126) to load the consumer profile table (110) andlocate a matching profile.

Once a consumer's inquiry has been registered by way of an existingentry in the consumer profile table (110) or entry of a new profile, theadviser assigned to the service event considers the consumer's requestand enters appropriate search term in the management server (104) forprocessing. For instance, the adviser may click on a button or othericon indicating “create new request”, which may spawn entries forentertainment, financial, events and other types of customer activities.The adviser then enters request information into the system (100), andsaves the request. Management server (104) then forwards that newrequest into the resource repository (128), which may be a databasecontaining potential solutions, resources and other information to beprovided to customers in response to their needs.

The degree of match of the request to the information available in theresearch repository (128) may in one embodiment result in an assignmentof a level of match to the inquiry, such as level 1 for a reassign eventrequiring that a request be sent to a research task. If the level ofmatch is greater than 1, the representative's option will be only toclose the request, because the request is automatically sent into aresearch queue for further examination and research by a separatelyassigned researcher within the representative community (114).

Similarly, if the level of match is determined to be 0, therepresentative will only be able to proceed with research/fulfillment,by way of an assigned research representative or otherwise. Othergradations are possible, depending on the degree of match through theresearch repository (128). It will be appreciated that other modes ofcommunication, as well as other modes of real-time research on customerprofiles are possible. For instance, the research repository (128) maybe located within a single hardware database, or distributed across anetwork, such as an intranet or the Internet. However, in all casescustomer inquiries are methodically processed by individually assignedrepresentatives fulfilling defined roles, and accessing customer profileinformation in a short, responsive amount of time.

FIG. 2 illustrates an architectural diagram of a computer call centersystem which can be used to support customer management operationsaccording to a second embodiment of the invention, performing generallysimilar service, fulfillment and marketing operations as the first. Thecustomer management system (200) of this second embodiment alsofunctions to assist customer management operations to address consumerrequests received via electronic mail (e-mail), voice mail, video calls,facsimile (fax) transmissions and other communications media. Thesetransmissions may be transmitted through network connections such as theInternet or intranet, as well as telephone and/or wireless connectionsto other networks, with the same goals of customer service fulfillmentand value-added promotions of a “digital valet” nature.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, an exemplary architecture of the customermanagement system (200) contains an automatic call distributor (ACD)(202) or a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) (204), a CTI Server (206), aworkstation (208), Tengah Server (210), a Document Management System(212), a database (214), CORBA Server (216) and a Microsoft ExchangeServer (218).

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 is telephone-based, in which theACD (202) or PBX (204) or both act as the front end switch for therouting of incoming telephone calls received from public switched orother telephone networks. ACD (202) and/or PBX (204) function as aswitch for the system (200) to distribute incoming calls to one or morevoice response units (VRU) (220) and other telephony related devices asknown in, the art. Each workstation (208) contains or is connected to aCTI Server (206) which is directly or indirectly connected to the ACD(202) or PBX (204). ACD (202) and/or PBX (204) are connected over acommunication line (222) to the CTI Server (206) to provide outboundcall dialing and incoming call routing.

CTI Server (206) provides integration of voice and data applications,such as the integration of telephone and computer systems and telephonyservices into desktop computers, servers, PBX devices, and othercomputer-related equipment and services. One feature of the CTI Server(206) is the ability to communicate conversations over in-house computernetworks. The system (200) can interface with, for example, TelephonyServices API (TSAPI) created by Novell and Telephony API (TAPI) createdby Microsoft to enable the system (200) to perform functions such as toanswer incoming telephone calls and faxes, forward calls, and providevoice mail. CTI server (206) may include a fax application (226) whichreceives incoming faxes and displays them in a graphical user interface(GUI) (228) where they can be manipulated by the user as if working in adrawing program.

Another application of CTI Server (206) is the service of InteractiveVoice Response (IVR). The IVR feature provides a computerized “operator”service which guides the consumer through button-pushing options whenthe consumer calls the customer system (200). The consumer isautomatically queried for input, for example, “press 1 for sales, press2 for service.”

When a consumer calls the customer management system (200), an automaticnumber identification (ANI) function within CTI server (206) detects thetelephone number from which the consumer is calling. Using theconsumer's detected telephone number, the system (200) can automaticallyretrieve from the database (214) and display on a screen of workstation(208) relevant information about the consumer, such as the consumer'saccount information, prior purchasing trends or payment history profile.

In this regard, the overall CTI architecture may include the database(214) and routing server (230), as well as the CTI server (206).Database (214) is a database for storing all relevant activities of theCTI subsystem, including the current status and history of all calls inthe CTI subsystem. Routing server (230) routes calls to the mostappropriate customer service representatives based on factors such asthe information contained in the database (214) and the status ofvarious stations in the customer management system (200). CTI server(206) acts as a bridge between the local area network (LAN (232)) andthe CTI subsystem. The CTI server (206) is designed to interface withthe network services manufactured by different vendors, and present auniform application program interface (API) to the database (214) androuting server (230).

Data communication lines serve to connect CTI server (206) toworkstation (208). Workstation (208) includes a client browser (234) anda Web browser (236). Client browser (234) allows the user to access anyinformation on the client's network, which may be an in-house intranetincluding LAN (232). Web browser (236) provides a tool for accessinginformation on any network, an internal intranet or the Internet in HTMLor other format.

Workstation (208) is also connected to a WordProcessor spell checker(238). WordProcessor spell checker (238) integrates word processor andspell checker components which are used to create and modify the text ofconsumer responses. WordProcessor spell checker (238) enhances thesystem's ability to generate professional outbound correspondence ofhigh quality.

The CTI subsystem also contains a stat server (240), which accesses thedatabase (214). CTI server (206), stat server (240) and associatedcomponents are connected by network connection including LAN (232).

In another aspect of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the Tengahserver (210) includes as resources Session Enterprise JavaBeans™ (EJB)(244), Java™ Hypertext Markup Language (JHMTL) (246), Java™ Naming andDirectory Interface (JNDI) (246), Realm (248), and CORBA Clients (250).The Session EJB (244) architecture is a server-side component model forthe JAVA platform known to persons skilled in the art. Session EJB (244)performs operations of behalf of one or more CORBA clients (250), suchas accessing a database or performing calculations. The system (200)incorporates JHTML (246) as a standard format for using JAVA™ in HTMLpages for embedding JAVA™ into standard Web pages.

JNDI (248) is an application program interface (API) specified in JAVA™that provides naming and directory functionality to applications writtenin the JAVA programming language. Using JNDI, JAVA™ applications canstore and retrieve named JAVA™ objects of any type. In addition, JNDI(248) provides methods for performing standard directory operations,such as associating attributes with objects and searching for objectsusing their attributes.

The incorporation of Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)into the customer management system (200) allows the system, itscomponents and other applications in this embodiment to communicate withone another no matter where they are located or who designed them. ACORBA Client (250) accesses one or more CORBA Servers (216) to takeadvantage of the services offered by CORBA objects (254). The middlewareof the CORBA application that establishes the client-serverrelationships between the objects is the Object Request Broker (ORB)(256). Using that resource, a CORBA Client (250) can transparentlyinvoke a method on the CORBA object (254), which can be on the samemachine or across a network. The ORB (256) intercepts the call fromCORBA Client (250) and is responsible for finding an object that canimplement the request, pass it the parameters, invoke its method, andreturn the results.

The ORB (256) operates without CORBA Client (250) being aware of wherethe object is located, its programming language, its operating system,or other system aspects that are not part of an object's interface. Inso doing, the ORB (256) provides the system (200) with interoperabilitybetween applications on different machines in heterogeneous distributedenvironments, and seamlessly interconnects the system (200) withmultiple object systems.

The CORBA Client (250) is the entity that performs an operation on theORB (256) and the object implementation is the code and data thatactually implements the object. Objects on the ORB (256) can act aseither a client or server, depending on the occasion. Objectimplementations can be written in a variety of languages including C,C++, Java™, Smalltalk, and Ada.

The illustrated transactional CORBA Servers 1, 2, and 3 (252) permitonline transaction processing to be executed immediately, as opposed tobatch processing in which a set of transactions is stored and executedlater.

Document management system (212) stores, categorizes and retrievesdocuments, spreadsheets, graphs, and imaged (scanned) documents. Thesystem (200) assigns each document an index-card-like record that holdinformation such as the author, document description, creation date, andtype of application used to create the document. The system (200)archives this information for future access when needed to supportcustomer inquiries or other functions.

Database (214) is another client/server-based data resource applicationwhich operates over a network to manage data, accept queries from theusers, and respond to those queries. Database (214) is also capable ofimplementing functions such as (1) providing a way to structure data asrecords, tables, or objects; (2) accepting data input from operators andstoring that data for later retrieval; (3) providing query languages forsearching, sorting, reporting, and other “decision support” activitiesthat assist the users to correlate and interpret collected data; (4)providing multiuser access to data, along with security features thatprevent some users from viewing and/or changing certain types ofinformation; (5) providing data integrity features that prevent morethan one user from accessing and changing the same informationsimultaneously; and (6) providing a data dictionary that describes thestructure of the database, related files, and record information.

File sharing functionality may be provided by Microsoft Exchange Server(218) or other linking technology which integrates electronic mail,scheduling, electronic forms, and document sharing into the system(200). Furthermore, the Microsoft Exchange Server (218) connects withthe Internet and other networks outside the system (200) to provideaccess to global information. With the use of Microsoft Exchange Server(218), the system (200) allows the user to perform such tasks ascreating, sending, viewing and storing messages or other types ofinformation. Microsoft Exchange Server (218) may run on suchapplications as Microsoft Windows™ NT, Windows™ 95 or 98, Macintosh™ OS,UNIX™, Linux and other computers.

In terms of overall customer management processing, as illustrated inFIGS. 3-6 and FIGS. 7 a-7 d and 8, a managed workflow process for eachinternal representative begins when he or she accesses the customermanagement system. This processing flow is independent of implementingarchitectures, which may be adapted to vendor needs. Upon representativeaccess, the customer management system automatically assigns therepresentative to perform a unique, predefined role to execute customercare, fulfillment and promotion. The system has several categories ofsuch roles to assign to individual representatives. That assignment maybe based on each representative's profile (i.e., training, level ofexpertise, and language fluency) stored in database (214).

The system may assign a representative to serve as an advisor, aresearcher, a quality assurance representative, a librarian, or anadministrator within the system, among other roles. An identificationcode, the representative's social security or some other preassignedpassword may be entered by to access the system. Any information may beentered into the system by keyboard, voice activation, touch screeninterface, pen, computer mouse entry, or other interfaces. Several suchroles will now be described.

In the role of an advisor, the representative handles all incomingconsumer requests, reminders, follow-ups, and/or fulfillments. Otherresponsibilities of an advisor include creating and/or updating consumerprofiles, researching requests which can be handled immediately, andanswering vendor calls.

The system provides each representative is an advisor role with thefollowing associated functionality or resources which are displayed onthe workstation's screen and are selectable through the point-and-clickfeature of the GUI (228):

Associated Functionality (Screens)

-   -   User Login    -   Advisor Menu    -   Consumer Member Lookup    -   Consumer Member Profile    -   Previous Requests/Reminders associated with specific Consumer        Member    -   Requests with Status: Need More Info    -   Requests with Status: Awaiting Vendor Calls    -   Requests (Information/Fulfillment): Travel, Entertainment, Find        Me, Financial (Request Summary, Request Specific Information,        Fulfillment)    -   Research—Request Summary (read only), Resources (read only),        Options (read only), Notepad (read only), Response (editable),        Advisor Comments (editable))    -   Reminders—New (Creation)    -   Reminders—Find (View)    -   Ticklers—New (Creation)    -   Tickler—Find (View)

A representative assigned to function in the role of a researcher inturn will perform all research associated with a request. A researcheris responsible for completing and sending the consumer a response totheir inquiries such as a request, a follow-up, and/or a fulfillment.The researcher ensures that their responses have been approved by a QArepresentative before being sent to the consumer, and, if a responsemust be made by calling the consumer, the researcher is responsible forhandling such a response. Researchers are organized into logicalgroupings, depending on their areas of research expertise. Researchersmay handle specific types of requests regarding certain topics such astravel, entertainment, find me or financial. The specific type ofrequests that an individual researcher will handle is determined andassigned in their user profile.

Each researcher performs his or her functions through the use of thefollowing associated functionality and resources which are displayed onthe GUI (228) selectable by mouse to point-and-click icons or othermedia, representing the functions on the GUI:

Associated Functionality (Screens)

-   -   User Login    -   Researcher Menu    -   Researcher Briefcase    -   AYR Member Lookup    -   AYR Member Profile    -   Previous Requests associated with specific AYR Member    -   Request Summary    -   Research—(Request Summary (read only), Resources (editable),        Options (editable), Notepad (editable), Response (editable),        Advisor Comments (read only))    -   Ticklers—Creation    -   Ticklers—View    -   Get Next Request

A Quality Assurance (QA) representative in another role is responsiblefor assuring that all request responses and fulfillment confirmationsare correct to the best of their knowledge. The QA representative mayedit and send off the consumer's response, but often makes only minoredits and return all work back to the researcher. The researcher mustreceive prior approval from the QA representative before sending aresponse to a client.

To ensure the accuracy of the response, each QA representative performshis or her tasks again by interacting with the system's GUI (228) toselect the following associated functionality and resources:

Associated Functionality (Screens)

-   -   User Login    -   QA Menu    -   Request Summary    -   Research—(Research Summary (read only), Resources (read only),        Options (read only), Notepad (read only), Response (editable),        Advisor Comments (editable))    -   Ticklers—Creation    -   Tickler—View

The responsibilities of the research librarian include maintaininginformation received in the research library and assuring that thisinformation is updated and valid.

The research librarian is also responsible for updating the library withthe researcher's suggestions.

In order to enhance the performance of his or her role, each librarianis provided with the following associated functionality and resources,once more accessible through the GUI (228):

Associated Functionality (Screens)

-   -   User Login    -   Librarian Options Menu    -   Request Summary    -   Research—Search Results/Notepad    -   Research—Options    -   Ticklers—Creation    -   Ticklers—View

The role of an administrator within the system includes maintaining thesystem's user community, monitoring and managing queues, and creatinggeneral broadcast ticklers.

Each administrator performs his or her functions through the use of thefollowing associated functionality and resources, through the GUI (228):

Associate Functionality (Screens)

-   -   User Login    -   Administrator Menu—(User Management, Queue Management)    -   Request, Reminder, Tickler and Inbound E-mail queues

When the representative in each role selects an associated function, thesystem may display the requested information in a format so that it maybe edited by that representative, only read by the representative,modified by the representative to create a new document and/or onlyviewed by the him or her.

The invention is capable of handling several different types of consumerrequests. FIGS. 6 and 9 illustrate types of consumer requests which maybe organized by the invention into four major illustrative categories:(1) Entertainment, (2) Financial, (3) Find Me, and (4) Travel. EachRequest category may be further defined into sub-categories: (1)Entertainment—Restaurant, Events/Activities, Events/Activities Planning,or Gifts; (2) Financial—New Home Mortgage, Refinance, Home Equity Loan,Homeowners Insurance, Auto Insurance, Life Insurance, Health Insurance,Investments, Credit Card Services or Other Services; (3) Find Me—Find MeSingle Product Info, Find Me Product Comparison, Find Me Where To Find,Find Me Services, Find Me Person, Find Me Business, Find Me Other Info,or Find Me Other Where; (4) Travel—Travel Arrangement, TravelSuggestions, or Travel Info.

Once the consumer's request enters the customer management system, thesystem routes the request to the most appropriately skilledrepresentative assigned to an appropriate functional role, to best meetthe customer's need.

The invention is thus dedicated to customer service, customer support,inside sales and information fulfillment. The invention benefits fromenhanced call control to speed up record retrieval, route a call,escalate a caller issue, or assign a fulfillment agent. To optimizeproductivity, the invention automatically suggests cross selling andup-selling scripting to the user. Furthermore, the customer managementsystem may automatically employ statistical and adaptive marketingtechniques to incoming calls in an effort to maximize the call value forboth the consumer and the service company.

Cross-selling scripting involves automatic scripts which appear on theworkstation's screen to enable the representative to attract theconsumer to add products or service to the consumer's current shoppingcart of products and services. For example, the system may suggest thatthe user try a discounting technique to attract the consumer to purchasea more profitable product or service or purchase a product or servicethat better serves the consumer's needs. The up-selling feature of theinvention involves moving the consumer to a more expensive product orservice offering based on specific script outcomes, the consumer'sstatus, the payment or financial history of the consumer or any otherpre-programmed criteria entered into the management system.

Statistical techniques may be employed by the invention to garner moreinformation from the consumer so as to best identify the consumer'sneeds, a consumers' purchasing trends, trends within a population ofconsumers or demographics. This feature provides the invention with moredetailed and accurate information for future marketing and productdevelopment initiatives.

In any embodiment, the system's adaptive marketing function assists, therepresentative to move other products and services to the consumer, inreal time while the user is actually engaged in a telephone call withthe consumer. Based on historical information about the consumer'sprofile, usage characteristics, previous communications, product andservice offering types and availability and price structures, as well asthe financial profile and history of the consumer, the assignedrepresentative is presented a best-fit, contextual script to implementadaptive marketing.

The invention is capable of handling and processing inbound and outboundcalls and other contacts. Furthermore, the invention in another regardmay integrate credit card authorization directly into the call centerapplication.

As discussed above, consumers surfing the Internet may access theinvention via a Web page being viewed by the consumer. Collaborationwith the Internet allows a consumer seeking products and services viathe Internet to interact in real time with a representative via theInternet. Fulfillments including product and service types,specifications and ordering forms which can be pushed to the customer'sWeb browser on-demand.

In terms of Internet-based processes, the consumer can either requestthe intervention on their own as required by clicking a notificationbutton strategically incorporated into a Web page, or depending on thebusiness model, the intervention can be directed by the organizationhosting the Web service. Control of the interactive session by thecustomer service representative can be established by secure login fromany Web browser anywhere.

In this respect, in another regard the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1provides a transaction interface (150) which receives the transactionsas they enter the customer management system (100). A transactioncontroller (158) processes transactions received and sent through thetransaction interface (150) and controls a queue (126) to store receivedtransactions. The transaction controller (152) automates the flow of thecardmember's request ensuring that the requests are handled quickly andefficiently. For example, the customer management system (100) respondsto an e-mail and telephone requests within 48 hours, and an Internetrequest is processed within 24 hours after the request enters thesystem. As noted, the operation of the system (100) may incorporate anautomatic call distribution (ACD) or private branch exchange (PBX) whichare commonly known in the art.

Web center systems manage information about the interaction in ananalogous fashion to the traditional call center. Further, customerservice representatives can monitor the Web facility, in real time, andview information about the guest such as IP address and the nameregistered to it, which Web page is being viewed and for how long. Otherdetailed information such as the Web page viewing history by guest, andtype of previous interaction can be garnered.

Web center systems can push existing Web content and screen snap shotsonto a guest's browser and also push other fulfillment such as wordprocessor, spreadsheet, any image and viewable file in native form ontothe guest browser. These files can be viewed by the Web guest so long asthe guest has the applications that can process the files delivered totheir machine. It is also possible to add voice interaction over the Webthrough “click and talk” Voice-over-IP functionality, allowing thevisitor to talk directly to a representative.

The invention has been described with respect to particular embodimentswhich are intended to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Otherembodiments and configurations will become apparent to those skilled inthe art, without departing from its spirit and scope. The scope of theinvention is accordingly intended to be limited only by the followingclaims.

1. A call processing system that is configured for: determining anexpected economic value that is expected to be derived from performingone or more tasks in connection with an incoming call; assessing apriority of the incoming call based on the expected derived economicvalue; using the derived expected economic value to determine whether toroute the incoming call to an automated call processing system; and aqueue having at least a first incoming call and a second incoming call;wherein in response to determining to route the incoming call to anautomated call processing system, routing the incoming call to theautomated processing system; wherein further deriving the expectedeconomic value of the incoming call comprises: using at least onestatistical model to estimate the expected future profitability of afirst caller, the first caller being associated with the first comingcall and the at least one statistical model being based on a pluralityof variables; using the at least one statistical model to estimate theexpected future profitability of a second caller, the second callerbeing associated with the second incoming call; comparing the expectedfuture profitability of the first caller with the expected futureprofitability of the second caller; and at least partially in responseto determining that the expected future profitability of the secondcaller is greater than the expected future profitability of the firstcaller, determining that having a customer service representative handlethe first incoming call would not be beneficial.
 2. The call processingsystem of claim 1 further comprising: assessing customer servicerepresentative resources available to handle calls in the queue ofcalls; and at least partially in response to determining thatinsufficient customer service representative resources exist to handleboth the first incoming call and the second incoming call according topre-determined service criteria, determining that having a customerservice representative handle the first incoming call would not bebeneficial.
 3. A method of routing a call for processing comprising:assessing the past performance of a first customer servicerepresentative in performing one or more tasks; assessing the pastperforce of a second customer service representative in performing thesame one or more tasks; comparing the past performance of the firstcustomer service representative with the past performance of the secondcustomer service representative; in response to determining that thepast performance of the first customer service representative is betterthan the past performance of the second customer service representative;(i) assigning the first customer service representative to a first groupof customer service representatives, and (ii) assigning the secondcustomer service representative to a second group of customer servicerepresentatives; assigning a first call value to a first call in a queueof calls; assigning a second call value to a second call in a queue ofcalls; comparing the first call value to the second call value;determining whether the first customer service representative isavailable to handle the first call; in response to determining that thefirst call value is greater than the second call value and that thefirst customer service representative is available to handle the firstcall, routing the first call to the first customer servicerepresentative for handling, and in response to determining that thefirst call value is greater than the second call value and that thefirst customer service representative is not available to handle thefirst call, routing the first call to the second customer servicerepresentative for handling.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein assigninga value to a call comprises assessing an estimated benefit associatedwith attempting to persuade a customer associated with the call not tocancel a service.
 5. The method of claim 3 further comprisingdetermining whether routing the first call to the first customer servicerepresentative for handling would satisfy a predetermined average speedof answer requirement; and routing the first call to the first customerservice representative for handling is executed at least in part inresponse to determining that routing the first call to the firstcustomer service representative would satisfy the pre-determined averagespeed of answering requirement.
 6. The method of claim 5 furthercomprising routing the first call to the second customer servicerepresentative if routing the first call to the first customer servicerepresentative would not satisfy the pre-determined average speed ofanswering requirement.
 7. The method of claim 3 further comprisingdetermining an estimated effect that routing the first call to the firstcustomer service representative would have on the first customer servicerepresentative's ability to complete one or more tasks in regard to thefirst call; and routing the first call to the first customer servicerepresentative for handling is executed at least in part in response tothe determined estimated effect.
 8. A call processing system that isconfigured for: determining which particular one of a plurality of callsin a queue of calls is the most important of the calls; assessing thepast performance of a first customer service representative inperforming one or more tasks; assessing the past performance of a secondcustomer service representative in performing the same one or moretasks; comparing the past performance of the first customer servicerepresentative with the past performance of the second customer servicerepresentative; determining whether the first customer servicerepresentative is available to take the most important call; in responseto determining whether the first customer service representative isavailable to take the most important call, routing the most importantcall to the first customer service representative for handling; and inresponse to determining whether the first customer servicerepresentative is not available to take the most important call, routingthe most important call to the second customer service representativefor handling.
 9. The call processing system of claim 8 furthercomprising: determining whether the first customer servicerepresentative has handled the most important call within apredetermined period of time; and in response to the first customerservice representative not handling the most important call within thepre-determined period of time, re-routing the most important call to thesecond customer service representative for handling.
 10. The callprocessing system of claim 8 further comprising: assessing the pastperformance of a third customer service representative in completing thesame one or more tasks; comparing the past performance of the thirdcustomer service representative with the past performance of the firstcustomer service representative and the past performance of the secondcustomer service representative; based on comparison, determining thatthe past performance of the third customer service representative wasnot as good as the past performance of the first customer servicerepresentative, and was also not as good as the past performance of thesecond customer service representative; determining whether the secondcustomer service representative is available to take the most importantcall; and in response to determining that the first and second customerservice representatives are not available to take the most importantcall, routing the most important call to the third customer servicerepresentative for handling.
 11. The call processing system of claim 10further comprising: determining whether the first customer servicerepresentative has handled the most important call within apre-determined period of time; in response to the first customer servicerepresentative not handling the most important call within thepre-determined period of time, re-routing the most important call to thesecond customer service representative for handling; determining whetherthe second customer service representative has handled the mostimportant call within a pre-determined period of time; and in responseto the second customer service representative not handling the mostimportant call within the pre-determined period of time, re-routing themost important call to the third customer service representative forhandling.